Contemplate the lint that has collected in my belly button. Search out the fresh bread bakery. Wash my clothes in fresh water. Sit down to a meal I didn't have to cook. Of course the maintenance chores, sea shell collecting. Getting to know the local people, traditions, and customs. I'm too busy to finish this list. Usually you seek out what you most like. Seek and you shall find.

As a long time sailor and a beginner cruiser
With one long cruise done and another planed
(Thanx to advice received here I didn't buy a boat but am crewing)
Who's main crazy passion in life has been flying, anythingSingleengine, balloons,giant rc, but way above anything
Hang Gliding, I can tell you for sure it's not something
You just get into. Unlike most activities you can kill yourself in 5 seconds
Into your first solo, NO PROBLEM
This is one activity that takes commitment, dedication,
And an all consuming desire to fly
Just getting into it will just get you dead
I'm a rated 4 pilot by the USHGA

I think we experience the softer side of the world. Not just in our contact with those on the water but those who have businesses or live near it. To some it's an escape but we think of it in more positive terms as it's an immersion in the best of the world. It reminds us (and I know many here may not feel this) but of the innate goodness of mankind, of the humanity. It strengthens our beliefs in the kindness of our fellow man. While it's easy to lose faith in many things of the world, we still believe in mankind.

Until we got robbed by a couple of 14 year olds while on the way back to our boat, which had been ransacked and pillaged in our absence.

Don't know about any on else on here, but I seem to always have things that need fixing!! Some of them did not need fixing at sea, so were left till making an anchorage. Mostly I clean the boat from top to bottom, then catch up on those little jobs that need doing when the boats a bit more stable ! We cook everyday no matter the weather, but if we were able to get some fresh veggies, then we have big veggie fix !! LOL Sometimes it seems like cruiseing is going to new places to fix stuff !! LOL

I just wonder, if is there anybody except You, ready to tell this truth..?..

It may be that some of us can never adjust to the slow life of a cruiser. I'm still working on it hoping that after being on the boat for a week or so I'll get into some type of routine.

So far though, it's just very slow on the 2-3 days that I have been on the boat at one time. Usually I get anchored then fish, hike/run, climb the short cliffs, cook, star watch, chess on the computer when in range of a cell tower, etc. I've thought about bringing my road bike but getting it to shore will be and adventure. ( I have a kayak instead of a dinghy)

I stopped at a marina one time and the folks on sailboats there spent a lot of time on their computers while sitting in the cockpit then later went to the restaurant.

It's quite a change from city traffic, working in a high tech, high stress environment where you are busy almost constantly then get on the boat and it's all stop.

Even driving back and forth to work here can be competitive with all the young military in the area. It gets nutty after a while.

When cruising we have a very full social life. When cruising you are usually surounded by like minded people. At home, on land it is rare to know neighbors more than a few doors down.

My wife makes goofy things with shells and driftwood.
I fix things & help others fix things (I am the outboard wisperer)
We participate in local projects
We read everything written by mankind.
Drink too much
Read last years books because we forgot we had already read them FishingCooking
Laundry

Location: Cowes (Winter), Baltic (Summer) (the boat!); somewhere in the air (me!)

Boat: Cutter-Rigged Moody 54

Posts: 19,743

Re: What do you actually do while cruising?

Quote:

Originally Posted by biscuitsjam

What do you actually do when you go cruising?

Plan, navigate, sail, arrive at a port.

Then fix the boat. Go looking for parts. Go looking for provisions, fuel, water, beer, local data SIM card, etc. Fix the boat some more. Go look for parts again. Fix the boat some more. Then plan the next passage and leave.

I frequently puzzled over how I spent 16 happy hours and "did" so little.

SNIP

Me to.

But I may not puzzle as much as you do, I am too busy spending those happy hours.

I love sitting in the cockpit (under the bimini out of the sun) watching birds, or dolphins, or turtles, or sunsets, or clouds move across the sky in different shapes. Sometimes I even get my camera and take pictures.

There are times when doing nothing seems to be the best thing to do. I suppose this is the part most non-cruisers don't see. It's all the time between those activities we list as "fun" or "necessary" that we fill with idle pastimes. Whether visiting, studying, or just watching whatever is there at the moment, it beats having to deal with the pressure of daily life ashore. It's living on vacation, anything even remotely scheduled gets to be worrisome.
I think a more pertinent question for the OP would be " why do you put up with all that crap between doing the things you enjoy?"...really how long can someone endure the traffic, rude neighbors, hostile work environment, and demands we accept from society?...What would be the point in being the richest man in the rest home anyway? All the time we spend working any worrying disappears into the past and we only remember the highlights of our lives. Cruisers fill these times with memories of the people and places and un-expected things they wouldn't even dream existed, some good, some not so good, but still better than staring at the ass-end of another car for 3 hours a day.